Sand Screen
by atiledaanen
Summary: A nearly fatal encounter in the Forest of Death leaves one mysterious Sand ninja, and one very flustered Hinata. She can only hope she'll be as lucky next time...  GaaHina
1. Chapter 1

A/N: I'm pretty sure I know where I'm going with this story, so the updates should be pretty quick. This is my first fanfic so go easy on me =]

Let me know if you like it, and thanks for reading! Constructive criticism is always welcome.

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><p>"Hinata! What're you doing? Hurry up, we're gonna be late!"<p>

I glanced into the mirror one last time and hugged my hoodie tighter around me. I looked a mess. My grey eyes were tinged slightly red from sleeplessness, and my hair looked like a nest on top of my head. I had been so nervous I couldn't have slept for more than an hour or so. I sighed as my stomach squirmed in the familiar, nervous way that it always seemed to do.

"Coming, Kiba-kun!" I managed to stutter out as I grabbed my bag to run down the stairs.

It was the first part of the Chunin exam. I had no idea what to expect. Kurenai-sensei hadn't let us know too much, only that there were three parts, and to get a good night's sleep the night before… Well, so much for that.

I ran out the door after quickly nodding a goodbye to my father. Kiba and Shino were waiting outside for me. Shino dipped his head slightly, acknowledging my presence. Kiba grinned and said "hey." I muttered good morning and leaned down to pet Akamaru.

We started walking toward the Academy, my stomach still squirming. I had no idea what was going to happen once we walked through the front door of the school.

We didn't talk much on the way there. Kiba made a couple of half-hearted attempts at conversation, but neither Shino nor I offered much back. By the time we reached the Academy, my stomach was churning so much I felt nauseous.

We walked single file through the double doors at the front of the Academy and were met with three dozen other Genin. Although people were talking, there was a nervous hush around the room. I could tell everyone was as nervous as me. Well, probably not quite as nervous.

I scanned the room, registering new faces and familiar ones. There were a good number of ninjas I didn't recognize. More than half of them weren't from Konoha. I continued my scan of the room when my eyes fell on Naruto's group. There was one person that didn't look one bit nervous. He came in the room with a big goofy grin on his face, his arms up by his head. He looked very relaxed and confident. I stared at him, studying his big blue eyes and his cocky smile.

He caught my gaze and waved wildly at me.

"Hinata! Hey! Hinata! I'm gonna crush all of these guys here! Dattebayo!"

I felt my cheeks redden, and I quickly ducked my head and pretended I hadn't been looking at him. Kiba nudged me and laughed.

"He's gonna get rocked if he isn't careful… What a dummy."

I glanced up and noticed lots of smoldering looks going in Naruto's direction from most of the other ninjas in the room. I giggled to myself and went back to studying people. I paused on a group of three standing in the opposite corner. They looked disinterested in the whole affair and were just talking amongst themselves. Well, two of them were talking, a blonde girl with pigtails and a tall boy in all black. It looked like he had some sort of purple face paint on and a large bundle on his back.

The third person in the group stood slightly away from the other two. He had his arms crossed and his eyes were closed in some sort of meditation. The gourd on his back stood out almost as much as his fiery hair, which sat messily on top of his head. There was some sort of symbol on his forehead that I couldn't quite read.

I was trying to make it out when I felt someone's eyes on me. I snapped out of my concentration and saw that the boy's light blue eyes were staring straight back into mine. A pang of fear shot through my body and I quickly looked away. Something about him was… scary. More than that. He felt dangerous.

I kept my eyes on the floor for the next couple of minutes. Kiba tried to talk to me a few times, but I was still a little freaked out about what had just happened. He finally just let me sit there in my nervous silence. I was slightly relieved when an older Leaf ninja entered and yelled for the room to quiet down. Talking ceased instantly and the room hummed with nervous energy.

"Hello everyone, and welcome to this year's Chunin Exam. We are very lucky to have ninjas from three other villages with us today. Please give them your best respectful welcome… well, at least until the exam starts."

There was a rustling as everyone started to whisper. The test proctor cleared his voice to begin talking again. The room went silent.

"I have a couple of things to say to you all before we begin. This is a very dangerous, difficult exam. If any of you are doubting your ability to do well in life or death situations, please leave now. There is no longer any room here for anyone less than an excellent Shinobi. For your sake and the rest of your teammates, please withdraw from the exam."

As expected, no one moved. I started to tremble a little bit, but Kiba put his hand on my arm to steady me. As usual, he could sense my fear.

"Easy, Hinata," he whispered. "Kurenai-sensei referred us, lets not let her down okay?"

I nodded, but I didn't feel any more confident. I wasn't good enough to be here, I just knew it. But there wasn't any turning back now.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: I decided to upload 2 chapters at once to give you all a better idea of where I'm going with this.. Hope you like it! =]

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><p>My confidence hadn't increased any by the second part of the Chunin exam. We had barely scraped past the first part, and the second part was far, far worse. It was the second day we had been running around the Forest of Death and we had not gotten our second scroll. We had yet to encounter anyone else, thanks to my Byakugan and Kiba and Shino's senses. We had wanted a day to gather our surroundings and come up with a decent strategy. To my dismay, we had decided to split up to cover more ground. The plan was to spy on groups to see which scrolls they had so we didn't have to attack unnecessarily.<p>

The trees were thick and green around me as I jumped from branch to branch. Keeping an eye on my surroundings was nerve wracking and stressful. Every time I saw an animal with my Byakugan, I jumped full force; positive it was a ninja lying in wait. But every time, it was just an animal. Being by myself was making me even more jumpy than usual. I had stopped to take a break and rest by a tree when I saw it. The undeniable shape of three ninjas coming towards me through the trees. I went to turn and move away from them when I saw three more figures coming. Crap. I had nothing left to do but hide. I leapt into some thick underbrush and had just ducked out of sight when three ninjas from Amegakure landed in the clearing. They sensed the other group coming and put their backs together, bracing for the attack. Not three seconds later the second group landed in the clearing. It was none other than the sand ninjas I had seen at the beginning of the exam.

The rain ninjas relaxed when they saw the sand ninjas were younger. The biggest one smirked and nudged his teammates.

"What do you say we just get them to give us the scroll? There's no way they'll actually fight us."

They both nodded in agreement and turned toward the sand ninjas.

"There is no reason to put violence where it doesn't need to be, so why don't you all save yourself some trouble? If you just give us the scroll, we'll let you go and promise not to hurt you. What do you say?"

The sand ninjas didn't move or speak.

"Hey!" The second one yelled. "Didn't you hear us? We're making a really good offer. We don't want to hurt you if we don't have to!"

The last teammate snickered and grabbed a kunai from his bag.

"Looks like we'll just have to teach them a lesson on how to respect their elders."

He started running toward the group. The boy with the gourd closed his eyes and moved his hand slightly. Sand started to pour out of his gourd. He opened his eyes right as the rain ninja was about to lunge. Sand wrapped itself around the ninja's hand and he flew across the clearing, crashing into a tree before sliding to the ground in a heap. Obviously surprised, the other ninjas faltered a little, unsure of what to do. The red haired boy raised his hand and the sand wrapped itself around the fallen rain ninja, snaking its way up his body.

"Sand coffin," I heard him murmur.

The snake of sand continued until it covered the ninja completely. The boy closed his hand into a fist.

"Sand burial."

I started to hear the rain ninja's screams and hid my face. I didn't want to see what would happen next.

I realized I had covered my eyes too soon. The ninja's body had disappeared, his flesh squeezed until it exploded out of the sand like a bloody fountain. The other rain ninjas understandably started backing away. One of them pulled a white scroll out of his bag and tossed it toward the boy.

"Here, take it! We're sorry we pissed you off, we had no idea you were this powerful! Please, just let us go!"

They turned to run, but sand was already grabbing at their legs, bringing them to the ground. As the sand started to cover them, I began to shake. Who was this boy? I guess I had been right about him being dangerous. I wanted to turn and run away but my body was frozen. I clapped my hand over my mouth and squeezed my eyes shut as the screams of the two rain ninjas echoed through the trees. Tears started to leak through my eyes and I tried to shut them tighter.

Calm down, I told myself. I won't get out of this alive if I can't keep a straight head. I opened my eyes just in time to see the sand retreating into his gourd. The boy had his eyes closed and was whispering something to himself that I couldn't quite hear. The two other ninjas with him stood motionless, looking almost as scared as I felt.

The clearing was much quieter now, and I tried extremely hard to quiet my fast breathing as much as I could. I stayed where I was crouching, each moment becoming more excruciating than the last. Every inch of me wanted to flee, but if I moved now, I would for sure be killed. I kept my eyes on that boy. He was still whispering, eyes still shut.

When he opened them I realized, with horror, that he was staring right back into my eyes, just like he had in the testing room two days earlier. I froze, not moving a muscle, hoping he couldn't see me, wanting with everything I had that he had just thought it was a rabbit. His sand started to come out of his gourd and floated toward my hiding spot. I had been found out.

I scrambled backwards from the bush and tried to stay out of the sand's grip. It was quick and soon had me pinned up against a tree. I struggled and squirmed, trying to get out of its vice but it just got tighter. He had gotten me.

My eyes started to fill up with tears. I was going to die. The boy followed his sand through the underbrush and came to stand looking down at me.

The two ninjas with him came up behind him. The girl spoke.

"Gaara, come on. We have the scrolls; let's just go. She's obviously harmless."

"P-Please!" I begged. "I-I would g-give you a scroll if I had one but my teammates have it-'

"Why…" he cut me off. "Why do you want to live?"

The words came spilling out with my tears.

" I… I don't want to be a burden to my teammates anymore. I w-want to h-help them, and become a g-good n-ninja so we won't fail. I d-don't w-want Kiba-kun and Shino t-to hate me because I'm a failure! I w-want my father to look at me w-with pride and n-not ignore me anymore!"

"Gaara!" The girl said again. "Come on! She doesn't have a scroll, you've killed enough people today. We still need to get to the tower! There is no use in killing her, it won't do us any good."

The boy narrowed his eyes and the sand got even tighter around me. I started to choke, struggling for air. Suddenly, the sand was gone. He turned without looking back, and the sand followed him. That was the last thing I saw before the world turned black.


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: Sorry this took so long to update! It was a REALLY difficult chapter for me to write, I just kept getting stuck! As always, let me know how you like it/how I can do better! Thanks everyone for all the awesome feedback already!

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><p>I was screaming. My screeches echoed through those trees that I had run through on the way to this place. I was going to be heard by everyone but no matter how hard I tried to shut my mouth, to stifle the screams, they just kept going. I was dead, I was sure of it. This pain, this fear, it was going to last forever wasn't it?<p>

I saw Kiba, Shino, Kurenai-sensei. There was the older leaf ninja who had proctored the exam. I shouted out to them. The ninja said something to my group, my friends. They shook their heads and it looked like Kurenai-sensei was trying not to cry.

Next I saw my father. He was drinking tea when the ninja went up to him. I watched my father throw his cup to the ground. It shattered and I watched the jagged pieces spread. My father knelt to the floor and held his head in his hands. What was this ninja telling them? I wanted to run to them, but my legs never moved. I tried to yell to them, no sound came out. What was going on?

That's when I felt it. Gritty, sticky sand, pressing into my skin. Grinding into my legs. He was back for me. I fell to my knees, choking out a sob. The sand pushed me to the ground, making me grovel for my life. I opened my mouth to beg, plead, but it was filled with sand. I spat, again and again, but more came, filling up my throat.

He knelt before me, studying me. He grabbed my hair and pulled my face up to his. His eyes were crazy, unstable. They bled with hate, they wanted to make me suffer. Those eyes, void of anything but evil and blood lust, they wanted to see me die.

I tried to shut it all out, close my eyes, block out the nightmare, but I had no control over my body anymore. I was a puppet, a ragdoll in his hands. The sand clung to me, absorbing my every move, pinning me to the ground even harder.

With a snarl, he released me, throwing my face to the ground. Right as I was about to hit-

My eyes opened. It was dark now. I gasped for breath. There was no sand in my throat, and the only thing gritty on me was dirt that had stuck to my sweat slicked body as I had lay there on the ground. I tried to calm my breathing. Where were Kiba-kun and Shino? I studied the ground around me. Even I could smell the blood everywhere, which made me suspect that Kiba probably couldn't find me. It looked like I was going to be on my own for a little while longer.

I stood up, leaning on the tree for support. My knees almost gave out, but I held on and managed to take a couple of steps forward. I needed to come up with a plan. I figured my best bet to find Kiba and Shino was to find my way to the tower. It had been our last resort plan if we got really separated. They were both impressive, one of them had to have gotten a scroll somehow… I hope…

I used what little Chakra I had to use my Byakugan to see what direction the tower was in. It was only a couple miles to the north of me; with any luck I could make it by dawn.

Figuring I could see better than most people in the dark, I felt fairly comfortable travelling at night. That was my first mistake. I was relying so much on my eyes that I failed to notice the rather obvious- in hindsight, at least- sound activated trap. I should have noticed that particular tree was different than the others, but I was so focused on finding enemy chakra signatures that I stepped right onto its lower branch. The noise of my landing, no matter how quiet, and the vibrations from the impact of my feet, sent a flurry of paper bomb-laden kunai in my direction.

This was bad. I was almost completely out of chakra, and I was probably going up against a whole team. I had the obvious disadvantage of being alone. I dodged the kunai and darted up into the canopy to a different tree. I hid amongst the leaves, hoping they would think I ran away. My eyes were darting around, trying to find the people who had set the trap. I couldn't find anyone. My heart rose hopefully. Maybe they set the trap, but got a scroll and left. Maybe I was in luck. That's when I heard it. A high-pitched screeching noise that was getting closer by the second. It was more terrible than any sound I had ever heard. It came at me, shrieking and grinding through the trees as if it were a person itself. Just then, a terrible pain came cracking through my head. It felt as if someone was trying to rip my head in two from the inside. My vision went fuzzy and I staggered a little bit. I struggled to keep my balance and tried to put my hand on something to steady myself. I reached out and grabbed nothing but leaves. I started to claw, trying to find something, anything. I started to fall, and then I was paralyzed. I couldn't move anything as I plummeted towards the floor of the forest. I hit the ground hard and I thought I heard something crunch. I struggled to keep consciousness as more pain came through me, more intense this time. I lay on my back, just trying to breathe. My body still wasn't responding to me.

Three figures gathered over me. There were two boys and a girl. I saw the sound ninja symbol on their headbands and cringed even more. They had no remorse. They weren't going to hesitate to kill me.

"Hey little girl," the girl sneered, then kicked me in the side. More pain. I tasted blood in my mouth. My vision was going fuzzy now.

"P-Please," I choked out. "I don't have a scroll."

The girl laughed. "You think we care about your stupid scroll? We already have both of them. We're just having fun now."

Tears were stinging my eyes now. My whole body was still paralyzed and in so much pain I could barely breathe. I tried to speak again but no sound came out. I was moving my mouth, gasping for breath, a fish out of water. This was definitely going to be it. These ninjas were more ruthless than the sand ninjas from earlier. They were going to kill me, just because they felt like it. I coughed again and tasted more blood in my mouth. Suddenly, I could move. Barely, and painfully, but it was something. Maybe they were going to let me go!

One of the boys spoke. "This is boring. I want a little bit of a challenge. I want you to fight back, little girl."

This was it. Maybe I had a chance to run, hide, something. I went to sit up but my ribs were screaming in agony. I sputtered, trying not to cry harder as I collapsed again. I can't give up now. They gave me a chance. I could hear them laughing as I rolled onto my stomach in an attempt to get up on my hands and knees. I crawled over to the tree that I had fallen out of and tried to use it to pull myself up. My body was protesting, it didn't want to move. I pulled myself up about halfway but my body couldn't handle it. I fell back into the dirt, biting my lip, fighting back the tears.

"Well this is no fun," spat the third member of the party. "Just kill her in my opinion. The little rat doesn't want to live."

I still couldn't breathe very well. Every breath reminded me that there was a lot broken inside of me. The pain was getting to be too much to handle. The three figures were swimming in front of me. I tried to move, nothing happened. They weren't paralyzing me anymore, I could tell. It was just my body starting to shut down. Maybe this was really it. I was done for.

"Leave her."

What was that voice? I knew it from somewhere, it terrified me. I struggled to keep awake. Who was it?

"Who the hell are you?" asked the bigger of the two boys in the sound group.

"I think that's that sand kid that we keep hearing about," said the girl.

"Hah," the last sound ninja half spat, half laughed. "He can't do anything against us."

Oh no. He was back for me. He wanted to kill me himself. His face from my nightmare appeared in front of me. Insane and bloodthirsty. I screamed and tried to stand up again. Sand was pinning me to the ground, just like in the dream. I lay there, helpless and whimpering, surrounded by monsters that wanted me dead.

"I said LEAVE HER."

"Why should we listen to a freaky looking midget like you?" laughed the girl.

It looked like she was about to get her answer.

Sand appeared from behind me, filling the air like a tan mist. I knew what came next.

I heard him murmur the first part of his jutsu. I screamed, struggling against the chains of sand that held me to the ground. They just got tighter. I could hear the sound ninjas yelling for each other, trying to do something to counter his attack. A kunai came whistling in my direction and I tried to move to get out of its way. The sand held me tightly to where I was. I braced for the impact of the throwing knife but it never came. A tendril of sand knocked the knife out of the way. Strange. What was this sand ninja doing? I was tired of this sick game but my body had run out of fight.

I wanted to keep consciousness, I wanted to see what was going on but I was officially on my last legs. I didn't know if I was dying or just passing out, but as the seconds passed, my vision became blurrier and blurrier. Finally, I saw nothing.


	4. Chapter 4

Hello everyone! I am SO SO sorry for not updating for like a million years, but... life happened . Ch 5 is also almost finished so will upload that asap! Please forgive me, and as always, R+R! constructive criticism ALWAYS welcome :)

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><p>I woke up to voices of ninjas I didn't recognize. Confused, I tried to open my eyes. Everything still really hurt. I lifted my arm and pain surged through me.<p>

"Hinata!" It was Shino's voice. I tried to say something, cry out to him, but no sound came out.

"Hinata, it's okay. We have you now." Kiba-kun! I finally managed to get my eyes open. Kiba and Shino were sitting next to me. I was in a building I didn't recognize, and I could see medical ninjas bustling about.

"Wh-What happened?" I managed to croak.

Kiba looked at Shino uneasily. "We were hoping you could tell us…"

Shino nodded. "Kiba and I met back up after the first day… We got worried when we couldn't find you, so we started looking. Kiba couldn't distinguish your scent with all the blood spilled in the forest. We finally found you, half dead under some tree, but there was no one around. What happened out there?"

A medical ninja took advantage of Hinata's pause to shush them.

"Stop interrogating the girl, she's severely injured! Questions can wait. For now, just be thankful that she pulled through. Things didn't look too good for you, Hinata. You really must have a lot of fight in you."

I looked away, embarrassed. No, not a lot of fight. I just got really lucky…

It all started to come back to me as I lay there, my body numb from the healing chakra that the medics were pushing into my body. The last thing I remembered was the sound group pounding me to near death in that clearing. Then someone had come and saved me. But who? I struggled to remember, playing the painful events through my head one by one. That sand ninja… he had come to save me. But why? Why would he do that if he had been so close to killing me himself just the day before? The thoughts stopped making sense in my anesthetized brain, and the numbness lulled me into unconsciousness again.

The next few days were a blur. It mainly consisted of Shino and Kiba coming to visit me after training. Kurenai-sensei came a couple of times, and even my father showed up once. I was surprised at how he reacted at first. I thought for sure he would get mad at me for not taking my enemies down and keeping up the Hyuuga name. Instead, he didn't say anything as he sat next to my hospital bed, just looked at me with that familiar distant expression. When he left I noticed he had left a flower in a vase on my bedside table. It was the same shade of grey as my eyes. I had been pretty drugged up at that point and I couldn't really hold a conversation with him, much less thank him. Even Naruto and his team came to see me! If I had been any more coherent, I would have been embarrassed, but I was just happy to see familiar faces.

Most days I just spent slipping in and out of consciousness. The medical ninjas had done what they could; healing what was broken with Chakra, but there was only so much they could do. The majority of my healing was to be done the old fashioned way, waiting. I still had a lot of broken bones, they had concentrated mostly on my internal injuries that had been life threatening. Most of my limbs were in casts, and I was on a constant dose of painkillers. They made me really woozy, and most of my interactions with people felt like dreams. I was content with this. If I had been all the way coherent I probably would have gone crazy from reliving the two days that had almost killed me. I knew I had no reason to now that it was over, and the only thing that mattered is that I was alive. I couldn't stop myself from mulling it over, replaying everything in my head, over and over again, clawing for some sort of sense of the whole ordeal. None of it made sense to me. Those eyes, that name - Gaara. They haunted my dreams just like they did in the forest. I was still terrified of him, but I knew once I could walk, I needed to find him.

The nurses started trying to wean me off of the painkillers after about a week in the hospital. They said it would help me get better quicker, that I was strong enough to not need them anymore.

The fiery pain in my limbs disagreed with them.

The first night they gave me medicine to help me sleep. Soon after the injection the world got blurry and I passed out.

I started to dream. I was in my hospital bed, just like normal. There didn't seem to be anything strange, but something felt unsettling. There was someone there. A figure cloaked in shadow stood in the corner of the room. Thank god, maybe the nurses had changed their minds. My body hurt so terribly, I went to call out to them.

"Um, excuse me, doctor? Are you here to give me pain medication? I can barely sleep, it hurts."

The figure in the corner didn't answer. I started to get a little more nervous.

"Wh- Who's there?" I choked out.

I needed to get out of this bed. I tried to sit up, but my broken bones still ground against each other as soon as I moved. I gritted my teeth and a whimper escaped my lips, hot tears pricking the corners of my eyes.

I heard the figure release quick breath, a cross between a scoff and a growl. I couldn't move. I squirmed and tried to find someway to move that didn't knock out my breath from pain. The figure's hand came out from the dark and grabbed my arm when I tried to move it out of its cast.

"Don't."

I knew that voice. My first instinct was to call out for help, but the words caught in my throat. All I could manage was another whimper.

"Wh-why are you here?" I finally managed to choke out, tears welling in my eyes again. "Why did you save me in the forest?"

Silence. I went to try and move again, adrenaline rushing through me and numbing my pain.

"I said _don't_."

I froze, tears going full force now, blurring the already faint figure.

Sand started to float toward me. He must really love to play games if he was coming now to kill me.

"Who is he…" Gaara murmered.

"Wh-who?"

"The one with the dog."

My breath caught in my chest again. What did he want with Kiba?

"H-he's my teammate…"

More silence. The sand began to form a lazy current through the creases of my bed sheets. I looked warily at it and began to shake. I could feel the chakra pulsing from it. He was more powerful than I had realized.

"Why did they come here… You failed them…" He growled.

"W-well, Kiba's my friend and-"

The growl turned into a snarl and I could feel the sand tightening around me. I couldn't even squirm anymore.

"P-please!" I shrieked, finally able to find my full voice. The boy walked out of the shadows, his eyes closed, his hands in a position that I knew all too well.

"No!" I screamed, and tried to push against the sand that was still getting tighter around me.

He opened his eyes and lunged toward me. His hand clasped around my throat and he brought his face close to my own. The eyes from my nightmare bored into mine. Spit started to drip from his mouth as he snarled out something I couldn't understand. I choked and managed to let go one more scream before I lost consciousness. As I slipped away I could hear the vase with the flower from my father crash to the ground and smash into pieces.


	5. Chapter 5

A/N Hello everybody, again, this update took forever, and I had this chapter written as is for a long time. I know it is short, but I am working on the next one now so hopefully it will be up in the next few days/weeks depending on how this semester coming up goes.

As always, R/R, constructive criticism ALWAYS welcome, and thanks for not abandoning me! 3

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><p>I came to in a different hospital bed. Most of my casts were gone but I had more IV's in me than before. There wasn't any more pain. The memory of Gaara by my bed struck me and I sat up cringing in anticipation for the pain of my ribs, but there wasn't any. My room was empty. My father's vase was nowhere to be found. I suddenly got dizzy and laid back down, squeezing my eyes shut. I wanted the room to stop spinning please.<p>

"He-hello?"

The door to my room opened and an older, friendly looking medical ninja walked in.

"Glad to see you're finally awake, Hinata," she said with a smile. "You've been out for quite a while!"

"How long have I been sleeping?" I asked, thoroughly confused.

"Close to a week."

My jaw dropped. I had been asleep for a week?

"After we took you off the painkillers, it seems you had some sort of mental breakdown. We failed to realize the effects your experience in the woods would have on your mental health. Your body has healed for the most part but you still seem to be suffering."

I shook my head. What were they talking about?

That night with Gaara couldn't have been a dream. The flower was gone. The vase had been broken. He had come that night.

"I… I don't know what you're talking about, doctor." Her smile was piteous.

"The night we took you off painkillers, you had some sort of fit and trashed your room. We found you screaming about how you didn't want to die and trying to get out of your bed. If we had come any later you probably would have reinjured yourself."

I shook my head again.

"You don't understand… There was someone in my room that night. I'm telling you he was-"

"Hinata, none of us know what happened back there in those woods, but we can tell that it has been very hard for you to cope," her tone switched from impatient to patronizing. " You nearly died for the first time in your career as a Shinobi, and that is something that can be very hard to come to terms with. Maybe if you told someone what happened it would make you feel a little better."

Just then the door slammed open again. Kiba burst through the doorway closely followed by two very angry nurses.

"Hinata!" he yelled, his signature grin on his face. "You finally decided to wake up!"

"K-Kiba-kun," I managed to smile a little.

The medical ninja looked at him with disapproval.

"She isn't ready for visitors. Please go."

Kiba shook his head. "No way. We're not going anywhere."

Shino had glided into the room unnoticed.

With an exasperated sigh, the medical ninja turned and walked toward the door.

"You have five minutes." She slammed the door behind her, muttering something about dogs.

Kiba made a face at the door.

"What a bitch."

He turned to me and ruffled my hair, then looked disapprovingly at the multiple IVs that were coming out of my arms.

"We've got to get you out of here. This place is only going to make you crazier."

Shino approached the bed.

"You've had us worried, Hinata. From the way they've been talking about you, they made it sound like we were going to be down a member."

"Shut up Shino," growled Kiba. "She's fine. Look at her. What will make her not fine is if they keep her here!"

I shook my head. "They think I'm crazy Kiba-kun."

"What? That's the dumbest thing I ever heard. Of course, you've always been a little wacky…" Kiba tried not to smile, but I was having a hard time finding the humor in the situation. A red headed specter still appeared behind my eyelids every time I blinked.

"Something happened in that forest, and I can't explain it."

I spent the next few minutes telling them everything. By the end of it Kiba was seething.

"I can't believe what he did to you. I'll rip him to shreds!"

An animal snarl burst from his lips. Shino didn't say anything.

"N-no, don't forget he saved my life!" I didn't want Gaara dead. There was still so much I needed to find out.

Just then, the medical ninja burst through the door again.

"OUT!"

Kiba narrowed his eyes and growled quietly.

"I hate that woman…"

I managed a smile.

"I-I'll be okay Kiba-kun," trying to put some confidence into my voice. I really didn't want to be alone with that woman. After of all of the events of the past week I knew I wasn't crazy. Gaara, on the other hand, was a different story.

Kiba and Shino walked reluctantly out the door, taking one last glance at me. I kept the smile on my face until they walked out. The truth was, I wanted to cry. I was sick of this hospital. I was sick of being watched. I was sick of feeling useless.

I had already messed up the Chuunin exam. I wanted to prove everyone wrong. I needed to get out of here.

As the door closed behind my teammates, the medical ninja turned back to me, an encouraging smile on her face.

"So why don't you tell me what happened in that forest?"

I spent the next twenty minutes telling her about the rain ninjas, minus the parts with Gaara. She listened without interrupting, taking notes on a pad she pulled out of a drawer next to my bed, nodding every once in awhile after things I said. When I was done, she smiled and got up to leave.

"It sounds like you got very lucky, Hinata. Thank you for sharing. This will be helpful for all of us."

As she went to walk through the door, I started to feel a little panicky. When she left, Gaara could come at any moment.

I swallowed my fear and watched her back disappear.

This was going to be a long night…

To my great relief Gaara did not come that night. The next day my father came to see me and told me the incredible news - I was finally allowed out of the hospital. Apparently they had accepted my story as normal, and my "reaction" was not out of the ordinary for a new Shinobi. I didn't argue, I was just happy I could get out of that room and possibly feel safe again.

The next few weeks passed without too much out of the ordinary. I wasn't allowed to train until after the third part of the Chunin exam. My injuries had been substantial enough to cause that much concern I guess. I watched Kiba and Shino every day, slightly jealous, but also glad I didn't have to prove myself any time soon. My body was still sore, and I was tired of failing.

Everyone paid more attention to me right after I got out of the hospital. It seemed my near death experience had been somewhat of a big deal, I guess because of my clan status. It died down after a little while, and I was more comfortable with that. Living with my failure alone was annoying enough; having everyone else ask me about it was not helping.

On days not spent training I spent my time wandering around the village, half hoping, and half dreading running into the sand ninjas. I hadn't seen Gaara since that night in the hospital. Inexplicably I almost wanted to see him. I was hoping he could clear up some of the confusion that was running through my head day in and day out. I still couldn't wrap my mind around everything that had happened, and try as I might, I couldn't stop thinking about it. It was going to drive me crazy if I didn't make some sense of it soon.

Soon the day of the third test of the Chunin exam arrived. I was cleared to go and watch with the rest of my team, although I would have been more content with just sitting at home in my room by myself. I was terrified to see the sand ninja boy again, even if it was from a distance. He was scheduled to fight with Sasuke, and even though Sasuke was good, I had seen what Gaara was capable of. It wasn't how strong he was that scared me. It was that face from my nightmare, those dead eyes that made me fear for Sasuke's life.

On the day of the third test I woke up feeling just as nervous as I had the morning of the first test. Kiba and Shino showed up to pick me up just as they had that first day. The only difference was none of us were fighting today. There were, however, a few of our friends fighting. Naruto and Shikamaru were among them. I was dreading Naruto's fight against Neji.

Of course, I was dreading Sasuke and Gaara's the most.

Next thing I knew we were sitting at the stadium waiting for the fights to begin. Kiba and Shino had both been very quiet and I suspected they were thinking along the same lines as me.


End file.
